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COMBUSTION ASPECTS OF APPLICATION OF HYDROGEN AND NATURAL GAS
FUEL MIXTURES TO MS9001E DLN-1 GAS TURBINES AT ELSTA PLANT,
TERNEUZEN, THE NETHERLANDS

John D. Morris F. Leon Ballard

Richard A. Symonds Elsta B.V. & Co., C.V.
General Electric Company

Adolfo Banti
Nuovo Pignone

ABSTRACT
Elsta B.V. Co., C.V., requested that the General Electric Company
and Turbotecnica/Nuovo Pignone propose expanding fuels flexibility
for the three MS9001E, DLN-1 (TM) units (being) installed at
Terneuzen, The Netherlands. The major challenge was the use of a
process gas rich in hydrogen for mixing with normal plant natural gas
fuel supply so that molecular hydrogen in the mixture reached 10
percent by volume. Evaluation of the gas turbine combustor operation,
based on the criteria of emissions, stability and turndown, required
extensive testing, first at the General Electric Corporate Research and
Development Center, then at the Schenectady (Building 262)
Combustion Laboratory, a full pressure combustor test facility, and
finally at Terneuzen with the gas turbines and plant owner's fuel
mixing and forwarding systems. Results of this field testing, built
upon the earlier work, are detailed below.
INTRODUCTION
The introduction of hydrogen into high methane natural gas
presents challenges to the use of premixed combustion systems. The
availability of hydrogen as an occasional waste product at a chemical
process plant, however, presents a strong economic incentive for
utilization of the hydrogen in power and steam generation. Elimination
or reduced use of a flare stack also provides an environmental
improvement. In this situation, the advantages motivated a program of
development and performance evaluation of a premixed combustion
system.
ELSTA PROJECT
The Elsta Cogeneration Project, located at the Dow Benelux
chemical facility at Terneuzen, The Netherlands, is a natural gas-fired
cogeneration project that can produce an average of 500 metric tons
per hour of steam for use at the Dow Benelux facility and up to 405
megawatts of electricity to Dow Benelux N.V. (Dow), N.V. Delta
Nutsbedrijven (Delta) and N.V. Provinciale Noordbrabantse Energie
Maatschappij (PNEM). Jointly developed by Dow, Delta, and PNEM,
and owned by Delta, PNEM and AES, the Elsta CoGen facility utilizes
three, General Electric design, MS9001E gas turbines, built and
supplied by Nuovo Pignone, and one General Electric steam turbine.
The configuration also includes three, duct-fired, exhaust heat recovery
boilers.
Dow Benelux, a subsidiary of the Dow Chemical Company, is a
Benelux-based international company involved in the manufacture,
trade and storage of chemicals and related products. Delta is the
regional utility, in the southwest of Holland, responsible for the
distribution of electricity, water, gas and cable TV in the province of
Zeeland, The Netherlands. PNEM is the regional utility responsible for
the distribution of electricity, water, gas and cable TV in the province
of Noord-Brabant, The Netherlands. AES is a major, independent,
global power company that owns and operates generation facilities
which produce, sell and market electricity and steam. Dow is the sole
steam purchaser and will rely on Elsta CoGen for the majority of its
steam needs, thereby reducing emissions and enabling it to take old
units out of commission. Dow will purchase about 25% of the
electrical output, and the remaining 75% will be purchased by Delta
and PNEM.
Utilization of a Dow process gas, generally a mixture of methane
and hydrogen, offered economic advantages to all Elsta parties, and the
ability to use varying amounts of this process gas in the gas turbines
and boilers was included in the gas turbine installations provided by
Nuovo Pignone.
The contract between GE (supplier of the DLN-1 combustion
system) and Nuovo Pignone, required gas turbine NOx abatement to 25
ppmvd at 15% 02:

Presented at the International Gas Turbine & Aeroengine Congress & Exhibition
Stockholm, Sweden — June 2–June 5, 1998
 1. On Gasunie natural gas or process gas/Gasunie natural gas
mixtures containing up to 1.07% H2 by volume in the DLN-1
(dry) pre-mixed mode;
2. On mixtures of process gas/Gasunie natural gas containing up
to 21% H2 in the mixture in the water injected, lean-lean mode.
Elsta subsequently requested GE's help for future fuels planning to
consider mixtures of Dow process gas fuels diluted with prospective,
new natural gases as well as Gasunie gas. Elsta also requested that the
process gas/natural gas mixtures be burned in the stable, pre-mixed
mode, with up to 10% hydrogen in the mixture; no water injection
would be provided. GE responded by proposing a test program
whereby the feasibility of accommodating Elsta's fuels could be
determined. The proposal provided for two gas turbine combustion
tests and one gas turbine systems test on a best efforts basis. The gas
turbine combustion laboratory, full pressure testing would confirm
some aspects of combustion operation for simulations of fuels of
interest. Remaining operation aspects were to be confirmed by field
testing, which for the 1997 program was limited (by availability) to
Gasunie natural gas fuel mixtures with process gas. This report covers
the combustion field testing done at site in August and September
1997.
COMBUSTION SYSTEM DESCRIPTION
The DLN-1 combustion system used on the MS9001E units tested is
a can-annular system with fourteen individual chambers. Each
combustor has two separate flame zones, axially staged, with four
modes of operation - primary, lean-lean, transfer, and pre-mixed steady
state (PMSS). Further description of the DLN-1 system and its
operation is given by Davis.
SUMMARY OF EARLIER WORK
GE's standard practice is not to ignite on fuel containing greater than
5% hydrogen by volume, and not to bum fuel containing hydrogen in
the premixed mode. As generally practiced, then, DLN (Dry, Low
NOx) combustion systems have not been allowed the utilization of
fuels containing hydrogen. The increased flame speed and flame
temperature of hydrogen caused concerns about emissions, metal
temperatures, and combustion stability (flameholding and combustion
dynamics).
Earlier laboratory testing in a single combustor test stand at full
flow, pressure, and temperature had mapped lean-lean operation and
the limits to safe pre-mixed operation without primary zone re-ignition
on a similar combustor design. Laboratory tests, and some field work
on a different combustor design, had given inconclusive results on
emissions. General Electric Corporate Research and Development
Center (CRD) testing had explored flameholding velocities to ensure
premixing zones that would not hold flame within the range of
hydrogen concentrations to be tested.
GE Schenectady Laboratory testing, part of this fuels flexibility
program, was conducted on a single combustor test stand at full flow,
pressure and temperature. This testing evaluated metal temperatures
and emissions and validated the CRD work on flameholding. (This
laboratory testing explored the full range of fuels requested by the
customer, not just the Gasunie/process gas mixtures planned for the
field test.)
FIELD TEST OBJECTIVES
Objectives of the field test were: 1) Confirm the findings of the
laboratory tests; 2) determine the impact on emissions of the hydrogen
concentration in the fuel; and 3) evaluate the influence of parameters
difficult to model in the laboratory. The ground work done in the
laboratory reduced the risk, the time, and the instrumentation required
for this field test.
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INSTRUMENTATION
Data measured during the test were from several sources:
Dynamic pressure transducers were supplied and installed by GE in
each of the fourteen combustion chambers and in each of the three
fuel gas manifolds feeding the combustion system.
Combustion emissions were measured in the stack by KEMA (a
consulting company from The Netherlands) using three probes
manifolded together. Gas samples were drawn continuously and
measured in two systems: one monitored by the KEMA technician
included 02, CO2, CO, NO, and NOx; the other system's output,
with CO, 02, NO, NOx, and unburned hydrocarbons, went directly
to the Data Acquisition System used by GE in their data trailer. Site
instrumentation data (CEMS) were reported directly to the Elsta
control room.
A Dow Chemical proprietary instrument measured fuel hydrogen
concentration for control purposes, and it was checked against
measurements of hydrogen concentration in the mixed fuel with a
dedicated gas chromatograph, operated by GASTEC (a scientific
measurement company in The Netherlands) for the duration of the
field test. (Gas chromatograph measurements of the incoming
hydrogen containing process gas before mixing with the pipeline gas
were also available.)
Gas turbine control instrumentation supplied standard measurements
needed for this test. Additional measurements were also collected
from Elsta's central control room.
Elsta Fuel Mixing Station
The hydrogen rich process (site) gas from the DOW plant was mixed
with natural gas at Elsta to achieve the fuels needed for gas turbine
testing. The natural gas supply was from Gasunie, and was nominally
82% methane, 3% ethane, and 15% nitrogen and carbon dioxide. Elsta
provided the mixing control valves, instrumentation and controls for
this process.
TEST PLAN
The test plan devised for evaluation of hydrogen in the MS9001E
required increasing concentrations of hydrogen in the fuel, up to 12%
at base load and 18% at minimum load in pre-mixed mode. Initial
testing was planned to provide a baseline of operation without any
hydrogen added. Then three to four steps of increased hydrogen were
planned, with evaluation at each step of all load points and conditions,
before increasing the fuel hydrogen to the next step of higher
concentration.
A test plan was devised that utilized a constant flow rate of site gas
from the DOW plant with a constant hydrogen concentration. Gas
turbine load was changed by varying the flow rate of the natural gas
introduced by Elsta. This plan allowed complete testing of one
hydrogen level at all of the load points of interest before moving on to
a higher level.
RESULTS
General
Sixty-nine test points were run with five different nominal hydrogen
concentrations and at baseline conditions without hydrogen. Figure 1
shows the actual loads and hydrogen concentrations that were run.
Points labeled "G Series" represent test points run on the Groningen
fuel without any site gas added. The various "H Series" represent the
different settings for site gas flow rate that were utilized. The "HA
Series" is a nominal 4% hydrogen concentration at the lowest gas
turbine load; "HB" was selected for 8% concentration and "HC" for
12% concentration. "HD" was chosen to give 10-12% hydrogen at
base load, and "HE" represents the highest site gas flow rate and the
highest hydrogen concentration. Elsewhere these are referred to as
low, medium, high, and highest H2 ("HD" and "HE" series)
concentrations. Primary mode split checks were included at Base load
and at a part load (minimum inlet guide vane angle with no inlet bleed
heating).
NOx
NOx emissions (at optimum split) corrected to 15% oxygen are
shown in Figure 2 as a function of Combustion Reference Temperature
for the pre-mixed steady state (PMSS) points. Combustion Reference
Temperature, calculated by the gas turbine control system, is an
approximation to gas turbine firing temperature. The NOX values,
although relatively low compared to other MS9001E units with similar
hardware, follow the expected trend with firing temperature.
NOx emissions corrected to 15% oxygen (at optimum split) are
shown in Figure 3 as a function of hydrogen concentration in the fuel
gas for base load. The influence of hydrogen on NOx emissions in the
tested range appears to be insignificant, especially with respect to the
normal requirement on this type of unit of about 25 ppmvd.
CO
Figure 4 shows carbon monoxide as measured as a function of
Combustion Reference Temperature for all PMSS points. CO
decreased with increased Combustion Reference Temperature as
expected and is somewhat lower than expected when compared to
other MS9001E units with similar hardware.
The reduction of CO with increasing hydrogen in the fuel gas is
shown also in Figure 3. This repeats the trend observed in the
combustion laboratory testing.
3
Dynamics
Figure 5 shows the effect of firing temperature (Combustion
Reference Temperature) on combustion dynamics (small amplitude
oscillations within the combustor). These values are typical for this
combustion system and show a gradual increase with gas turbine firing
temperature. The values noted here are not excessive. Excessive
dynamics can contribute to wearing of the combustion hardware, and,
in the extreme, hardware failure. The pressure pulsations can also
increase the tendency of the flame to move upstream into the
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premixing regions. Figure 6 shows the 14-combustor average of the
amplitude of the maximum frequency noted at each test point. There
are two frequencies of note, approximately 110 Hz and 50-60 Hz.
Relative to GE's experience, the magnitude and the frequencies do not
indicate any adverse effects on life or performance.
Figure 7 shows the effect of hydrogen on combustion dynamics at
base load. The hydrogen concentrations tested did not increase the
overall dynamics.
Split Checks
The split of fuel between primary and secondary combustion zones
can affect emissions and dynamics. A split schedule for primary zone
fraction as a function of Combustion Reference Temperature has been
established for the MS9001E and was implemented for this installation.
Split checks at minimum inlet guide vane angle (without inlet bleed
heating) and at base load were run to determine if the optimum split
had changed with hydrogen in the fuel. Figure 8 shows CO and NOX
as functions of primary fuel split at Base Load. In all cases but one,
the NOx value reaches a minimum at the preselected split, and CO
continues to drop as split increases. Figure 9 shows a continuous
decrease in dynamic pressure values as primary fuel split is increased.
CONCLUSIONS
Combustion emissions of NOx were not affected by the addition of
hydrogen. Carbon monoxide emissions decreased as hydrogen was
added. Combustion dynamics were not noticeably affected by
increasing hydrogen.
As an outcome, then, Elsta were authorized by Nuovo Pignone and
GE to utilize hydrogen containing fuels with 10% hydrogen or less in
the premixed steady state mode. (Other systems, not discussed herein,
were required to be modified for use of the fuel with hydrogen.
Examples include a nitrogen purge system for fuel gas piping and
increased compartment volume and ventilation.)
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Among the significant contributors to this program were: Kevin
Lim, who supervised the test crew and ensured the quality of the
instrumentation and data Jim Durocher and Rob Reed, test crew
members; Chip Grant, GE's on-site DLN start-up Controls Engineer;
Henry Wiersma, GE Combustion Engineer; and Randy DeWulf of
AES who ensured a smooth interface between the GE test crew and the
Elsta plant and supplied the needs of the test crew.
REFERENCES
Davis, L. Berkley; "Dry Low NOx Combustion Systems for GE
Heavy-Duty Gas Turbines"; General Electric GER-3568F (1996).

irks

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G Series HB Series
HC es •
HE eries

100 •
I HD Seri

F •
75

HA Series

•
•

50

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18
Hydrogen in Fuel - vol %

Figure 1. Test Points

1322 K 1367 K 1411 K

15

10

^G Date - H2 Level

x 8/18-No H2
• 8120-No H2
6
O X 8/22-No H2
X 8128-NoK2
X 8128- Low H2
n
a X 8/29-Med
µ . H2
R
C • 4 8/30-Hig '. H2
O .9/2 - Highest H2
z 5
a

II 1 1 1 1 1 i i 1 1 1 1 t i I i i i 1 i i i i i i/
1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020 2040 2060 2080
Combustion Reference Temperature - F

Figure 2. Premixed NOx Emissions

4
 12

10

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8
NOX -15% O2 at BASE
E t CO at BASE
a°
' E
N
o 0.6
a0
x
0
z
4

Combustion Reference Temperature =2060 F

2
(1400 K)

04
0 2 4 6 8 10 12
Hydrogen - volume percent

Figure 3. Effect of H2 on NOX and CO Emissions at Base Load (Optimum Splits only)

1322 K 1367 K IESIN 1
300_

Date - H2 Level
200
0 8/18
• 8/20
8/22
E 8128-No H2
150
x8/28- Low H2
0 08129-MedH2
V
+ 8130 - High H2
- 9/2 - Highest H2
100

50

.40011
0 I i i i I I 1 I I I C I I I - 1 - I''1 1 I I' I 7-A I
1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020 2040 2060 2080
Combustion Reference Temperature - F

Figure 4. Premixed CO emission

5
 1322 K
1367 K 1411 K
7

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1.5

Date - H2 Level
ap
ao •
£8'18
M p • 8/20
• r
pE • • 8/22
• 8/28 - No H2
c ^
6 8/28-Low H2
•
^o0 + • 1 psi = 6.8948 kP'a
• 8/29 - Med H2

La + 8/30 - High H2
. 9/2 - Highest H2
O<
0.5

0
1920
__I__i____ _____i_
1940 1960 1980 2000 2020 2040 2060 2080
Combustion Reference Temperature - F

Figure 5. Combustion Dynamics (Optimum Splits Only)

1322 K 1 A7ie ....,.

150

N
Z
Date - H2 Level
:, E 100
8/18
e
00

eam
•
H X8/28-No H2
•8/28- Low H2
00
~E e8/29-MedH2
EEEE 48!30- High H2
E a 50 .9/2 - Highest H2
xf
C

_Iii
1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020 2040 2060 2080
Combw on Rderence Temperature - F

Figure 6. Effect of Combustion Reference Temperature on Dominant Dynamics Frequency

6
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C-

0.

0
C
aa
C
C-
U
E
R
.SELOAD, H2 = 11.65%
n .OAD, H2 = 10.5%
),H2=8.24%

?=5.04%

€2%

14

Figure 7. Effect of Hydrogen on Combustion Dynamics

16

16

14

12
–.– NOX - Zero Hydrogen
O
–U–CO - Zero Hydrogen
• 10 –o–NOX-3.12%I-12
9 a –N–CO-3.12%H2
–a– NOX - 5.04% H2
96 8
–•–CO-5.04%H2
z NOX - 8.24% H2
z
6 —CO-8.24%H2
—NOX - 10.5% H2
–e`CO-10.5%H2
4

0
78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85
Primary Fuel Split -

Figure 8. Effect of Premixed Fuel Split on NOx and CO

7
 1.9

1.8

1.7

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1.6

aa'
2°I 1.5

4 1.4

SO 1.3

IflhiI
E'

________-- -___
jEJu'::'
78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85
Pdmaiy Fuel Split • %

Figure 9. Effect of Premixed Fuel Split on Combustion Dynamics